Dozens protest statue in defeated Syria cradle of uprising

Dozens demonstrate in the defeated cradle of Syria’s uprising against a statue of the late father of President Bashar Assad being reinstated eight years after protesters demolished it.

Assad’s forces secured full control of Daraa from rebels in July, in a massive blow to the country’s ill-fated revolt that erupted in the southern city.

“We protested in a number of streets… denouncing a statue of Hafez Assad being erected in the center of Daraa,” a protester tells AFP.

“The statue was erected by regime supporters,” says Mohammed, who does not give his second name to avoid reprisals.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, confirms the protest had happened nearly eight years after the original statue was dragged down.

In March 2011, demonstrators tore down the statue of the father of the current president, prompting security forces to open fire. Days after, some 300 bare-chested young men climbed on the rubble shouting anti-regime slogans.

— AFP